May 30: Travel Day, Nong Khai to Bangkok

Up early for a 7:30 departure this morning, only to arrive at the Nong Khai train station at 7:10 to find no train waiting for us. Bought a ticket for the train and was told that we'd travel by bus to Udon Thani, about 50 km south of Nong Khai, where we would board the train.

Of course, heading out by bus at 7:30 put us into Udon Thani just in time for rush hour. By the time the 20 of us had boarded the train, we were already 45 minutes behind schedule, which meant the 12 hours I had planned on in Bangkok was already shrinking.

The air conditioned, second class train car was comfortable and only one-quarter full, while the third class car I peeked at was jammed to the gills, with three Thais sitting in a space that two Westerners would find adequate, but not roomy. An endless stream of vendors walked back and forth, getting on and off the train, selling drinks and all sorts of food. With a few dollars in your pocket and a sense of adventure in your palate, it would be hard to go hungry on this train.

We finally arrived at Bangkok's Hualamphong station close to 7:00 p.m., nearly an hour late. Unlike the evening Shelly and I had been waiting for our train to Nong Khai last week, the CD shop in the station wasn't blaring the music of John Denver, Kenny Rogers and Glen Campbell. I dropped my bags at a hotel across the street then headed to a supermarket to buy something for dinner (the ever-exciting salad bar which, after 10 days in Laos actually was pretty exciting) and some fruit for breakfast. Tomorrow is, yet again, another travel day.